European commodities see 29% lower trading in July

July 2016 saw volumes across European commodity markets drop 29% compared to the previous month, according to data provider Trayport.

Total monthly contracts traded of 5.922m, which is the lowest monthly volume seen in 2016.

Despite this, volumes year-to-date continue to show strong growth, with 54.13m monthly contracts traded up 20% over the same period last year.

All commodity groupings contributed to the drop in volume in July, with European power posting the largest month-on-month percentage drop at 37%, followed closely by coal at 36%, then European gas and UK gas both down 28%.

As July saw volumes down across the board, coal reached an exchange executions record: exchange executions market share moved into double digits at 17% of the coal market for July. This has pushed year-to-date exchange execution market share up to 5% – the highest seen year-to-date, according to Trayport records.